The present invention relates to a method for transmitting information which employs one or more terrestrial or satellite base stations. A central ground station and a plurality of preferably mobile auxiliary ground stations are also provided, each of the auxiliary ground stations being located within receiving range of at least one base station. The central ground station transmits to one or more base stations, preferably on a single frequency, information which is combined within a time frame and is in the form of a cyclically repeated block of messages. The information is broadcast by the base station, preferably on a single frequency, and is received by receiving devices in the auxiliary ground stations. A control unit is provided in the receiving devices of the auxiliary ground stations for storing and repeating the information on demand. In addition to the information broadcasts, radio program can be tuned in by the equipment.
It is known to transmit information by employing base stations and mobile ground stations in order to disseminate traffic information to automobile drivers. In this case, traffic information for a large area is broadcast by superregional broadcasting stations, such as, for example, the Deutschlandfunk or Radio Luxembourg. Regional stations can be received only in a limited area and therefore broadcast only a selection of traffic information which relates to their receiving area.
The periodical Funkschau 1971, No. 7 (Pages 193-195) and No. 8 (pages 251-252) describes an automobile driver radio information system which informs drivers by "the push of a button" at selected rest areas on the Autobahn about the traffic situation. In order to store the information on an endless magnetic tape loop, an identification signal is transmitted before and after the traffic information, this signal also being available for control of the memory.
A disadvantage of this known information system is that the person receiving information from a superregional station must listen to information which does not concern him. Further, he may not receive needed information at all in the event his receiving device lies outside the receiving range of a regional station in an area along the route of his trip.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for transmitting information which records only that information which relates directly to the person receiving the information, and in which the process of storing and playing back the information is very simple.